NASCAR in 3D -- an idea whose time hasn't come

Want to see racing the up-close-and-personal way? Head to your local track. (The Birmingham News / Doug Demmons)

Are you ready for Sprint Cup cars leaping off your TV screen at 180 mph and scaring the fleas right off your dog?

TNT assumes you are. That's why today they announced that the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway will be broadcast in 3D for the first time ever.

Yep. Just like "Avatar" and "Alice in Wonderland," except you won't have to go to the theater and pay a jacked-up ticket price.

But there is a slight catch. You have to have a 3D TV. Either that or your computer has to be equipped for 3D. You can go to this site to see if it will work on your computer.

Oh, and you need 3D glasses.

But once you clear those hurdles you're good to go.

The question is whether anybody wants or needs to go there.

TV in 3D is probably the next big thing -- the thing we will all have to have, just like we all had to replace our vinyl albums with cassettes and then with CDs and then with MPG files. And black and white TV made way for color and then we all had to get cable and then plasma flat screens.

So before long we will all have to get 3D TVs or risk not being cool.

But that day is not here yet. And before it gets here we might want to pause to consider whether NASCAR in 3D is such a great thing.

Broadcasters are already overly fascinated by the bells and whistles at their disposal. There are already way too many in-car camera shots, cameras on bumpers, cameras aimed at the floorboard and cameras sticking out of holes inhabited by cartoon gophers.

All those shots come at the expense of showing you what's going on in the race. Anyone remember there's a race going on?

If you want to see race cars in 3D, get in your car, drive to a local track and see it in person. If you go to your local dirt track you can even feel real dirt smack you in the face and catch the distinctive smell of fuel in the night air.

And you can usually count on a variety of artery-clogging but, nonetheless, fabulous-tasting choices at the concession stand. Some tracks even have adult beverages.